Democratic state Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo wrote a letter Thursday to the congressional committee that confirmed Tom Foley's 2006 nomination as ambassador to Ireland, seeking any public documents from that confirmation process -- including Foley's answers to questions about his personal background. Foley is now a Republican candidate for governor.
DiNardo said her request was prompted by a Courant story last week that said Foley wrote on background-check forms for his ambassador's nomination that he had never been charged with anything more than a "minor traffic offense" - even though he'd had been arrested, but not convicted, on charges of first-degree attempted assault in 1981 and breach of peace in 1993.
"I am writing to request any public documents pertaining to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's confirmation hearings of Thomas C. Foley of Connecticut when he was nominated to be Ambassador to Ireland," DiNardo wrote Thursday to the committee's chairman, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts. DiNardo acknowledged she wanted the information for possible campaign use, saying, "I am doing it because I do feel that the people of Connecticut have a right to know what Tom Foley's record is."